Monday, December 31, 2012

NY Times Chess Roundup 2012

Here is the very nice New York Times Chess Roundup for 2012. Aptly titled "A Veteran Hangs on to His Title, but a Young Champion Is Dethroned" by DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN, the articles covers it all with an interesting insight: A changing of the guard was anticipated in the top ranks this year. It was the men’s champion, now 43, whom many thought to be vulnerable. But it was the teenage women’s champion who was dethroned.

The men’s titleholder, Viswanathan Anand of India, successfully defended the championship in May in a grueling match against Boris Gelfand, an Israeli grandmaster. Still, there are signs that Anand’s time at the top is coming to an end. Magnus Carlsen, 22, is now the world’s top-ranked player, and he will have a record high rating when the next rankings are released on Tuesday.

On the women’s side, Hou Yifan — who became the youngest world champion when she won the title in 2010 at 16 — failed to defend her crown in November. Hou was eliminated in the second round of a championship tournament, and Anna Ushenina of Ukraine became one of the unlikeliest champions in history, with a ranking of just No. 37.

But by winning the Women’s Grand Prix, Hou did place herself in contention to recapture the title next year against Ushenina. The two games, the New York Times, pegs as the games of the year are: Viswanathan Anand beating Boris Gelfand in the eighth game of the World Chess Championship 2012 after having lost the previous game and Fabiano Caruana failing to save his game against Levon Aronian at the Tata Steel Chess.

The article also discusses several other interesting aspects of the chess world in 2012. You can read the full article here.